Civil Contractors New Zealand Chief Executive Alan Pollard said a growing national obsession with road cones was an unhealthy distraction from the need to keep workers and road users safe on and around road work sites.

Good temporary traffic management was necessary to protect workers and road users, Mr Pollard said.

“It’s hugely important to protect the people we ask to work in high-risk locations, such as 100km/hr road corridors or trenches around utilities such as water pipes, energy cables and high-pressure gas lines – not to mention road users around these sites”.

Recent announcements around road cones and potholes were an unhelpful distraction from the real issues, as industry worked within project scope set by clients and legislation.

Contractors and clients could not avoid obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, and the conclusions from the Ernst & Young report cited today by Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown were ‘absurd’ and an affront to everyone working in high-risk environments.

“Suggesting traffic management is deployed to maximise profit is nonsense. It’s there for one reason – to keep road users and workers safe during high-risk works,” Mr Pollard said.

While contractors were an easy target for criticism, a more collaborative approach including clients, designers and subcontractors was needed to reach better outcomes, as industry worked within health and safety legislation, enforced by WorkSafe as the regulator, with project standards and traffic management plans set by designers and clients.

There was always room for improvement, and industry had been moving toward risk-based temporary traffic management for some years. However, this would lead to better safety outcomes and appropriate on-site controls, not necessarily lower traffic management costs.

“The way sites are set up is a function of the client requirements and what is needed to meet contractor obligations under health and safety legislation. We will not and cannot compromise people’s safety. It’s something everyone needs to improve on,” he said.

Road cones were just one tool to manage safety. Full or partial road closures could provide a safe and efficient fix in some situations, such as overnight maintenance and the industry was exploring ways to better manage risk on and around work sites.

More broadly, it was concerning to see potholes, leaks and road cone reduction prioritised above renewal and replacement of aging infrastructure, with decision makers seemingly blinded by symptoms of longstanding underinvestment in the country’s transport and water networks rather than the cause, and communities paying the price.